SUBJECT: old woman.
PROBLEM: intractable, chronic depression, suicidal thoughts since more than ten years; cured with anti-depressant and anxiolytic drugs but in vain; attempted suicide by cutting her wrists with razor blades.
APPROACH: experimental attempts requested by her physician to me despite her scepticism (hypnosis seen as a quackery); total failure of every overt attempt of inducing hypnosis; successful covert induction; subject's persistent verbalizations, interruptions, and sabotages before and during the trance; subject's astonishment for having matured some "important ideas"; sudden age regression at the third session, with total somnambulistic immersion in her remote, joyful memories of the past; consequent "immense" benefit; hidden post-hypnotic suggestions to use those comfortable recalls as a source of personal delight.
RESULT: quite euphoric mood after 8 sessions.
FOLLOW-UP (4 years): the physician informed me that "she is well".
Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.